In August of 2015 we became CoDirectors of MAG. This was a new experiment in shared leadership for MAG. We decided to share our reflections on this experiment as we go each year in hopes that it will contribute to our collective learning on shared leadership (here is our reflection from 2017.

It was Jiddhu Krishnamurti who said, “It’s no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” With that context I am in fact profoundly well and I am certain I am not alone. And what does this painful state of wellness we find ourselves in have to do with creativity, spirituality and liberation? How do we tend to wellness enough to heal and transform society? What is re-weaving now?

In 2016, Anne E. Casey Foundation engaged Management Assistance Group (MAG) to learn more about what factors prevent greater collaboration across workforce development and immigrant rights sectors and limit immigrants’ access to workforce development opportunities. This project would complement work already underway by the Aspen Institute, National Skills Coalition and National Immigration Law Center. MAG set out to understand this dynamic, guided by two core questions:

Where in the country are immigrants being best served by the workforce development system?

What conditions give rise to these bright spots and enable greater collaboration across immigration and workforce development sectors?

At MAG, we see the growing complexity of today’s problems as a call to collaborate and connect, and to do so in ever-more effective, equitable ways. In our work with change makers across sectors, we are committed to drawing upon the wisdom from the past, freeing our imaginations to experiment anew, and embracing the necessity of collaboration to fuel transformative change. Together, we’re seeing what’s possible when we connect across divides, overcome habits and practices that hold us back, and re-make strategies and systems together to ensure the well-being of all. Together, we’re aiming to embody the kind of thoughtful, ethical and equitable collaboration that can fundamentally remake our world into one of love, dignity and justice for all.

As part of our efforts to support equitable, effective collaboration, MAG was pleased to come together with a group of peer organizations to develop seven core principles to guide philanthropic collaboration in particular. The act of coming together was also the act of applying these principles.